Consumption and Theories of Practice
TL;DR: The huge corpus of work on consumption still lacks theoretical consolidation as mentioned in this paper, which is most obvious when contemplating the situations of different disciplines, where there is very little common ground (see, for example, the review in Miller 1995). But the problem is no less great in individual disciplines like sociology, where output seems to have been bipolar, generating either abstract and speculative social theory or detailed case studies.
Abstract: The huge corpus of work on consumption still lacks theoretical consolidation. This is most obvious when contemplating the situations of different disciplines, where there is very little common ground (see, for example, the review in Miller 1995). But the problem is no less great in individual disciplines like sociology, for example, where output seems to me to have been bipolar, generating either abstract and speculative social theory or detailed case studies. Moreover, case studies have been skewed towards favourite, but restricted, topics—fashion, advertising and some forms of popular recreational activity—with particular attention paid to their symbolic meanings and role in the formation of self-identity. These case studies, perhaps encouraged by prominent versions of the abstract theories which say that the consumer has no choice but to choose and will be judged in terms of the symbolic adequacy of that choice (e.g. Bauman 1988; Giddens 1991), very often operated with models of highly autonomous individuals preoccupied with symbolic communication. Believing that these approaches give a partial understanding of consumption, this chapter sketches an alternative, avoiding methodological individualist accounts of ‘the consumer’, which are concerned as much with what people do and feel as what they mean.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors reveal the process of collective value creation within brand communities and identify 12 common practices across brand communities, organized by four thematic aggregates, through which consumers realize value beyond that which the firm creates or anticipates.
Abstract: Using social practice theory, this article reveals the process of collective value creation within brand communities. Moving beyond a single case study, the authors examine previously published research in conjunction with data collected in nine brand communities comprising a variety of product categories, and they identify a common set of value-creating practices. Practices have an “anatomy” consisting of (1) general procedural understandings and rules (explicit, discursive knowledge); (2) skills, abilities, and culturally appropriate consumption projects (tacit, embedded knowledge or how-to); and (3) emotional commitments expressed through actions and representations. The authors find that there are 12 common practices across brand communities, organized by four thematic aggregates, through which consumers realize value beyond that which the firm creates or anticipates. They also find that practices have a physiology, interact with one another, function like apprenticeships, endow participants ...
2,099 citations
TL;DR: The Postmodern Music, Postmodern Listening collection as mentioned in this paper explores a wide range of modern understandings of Buddhism and questions if secular Buddhism is purely a Western invention, offering a timely contribution to an ever-evolving discussion.
Abstract: Examines various industries to show how business endows products with evocative meaning. Kramer was one of the most visionary musical thinkers of the second half of the 20th century. In his The Time of Music, he approached the idea of the many different ways that time itself is articulated musically. This book has become influential among composers, theorists, and aestheticians. Now, in his almost completed text written before his untimely death in 2004, he examines the concept of postmodernism in music. Kramer created a series of markers by which we can identify postmodern works. He suggests that the postmodern project actually creates a radically different relationship between the composer and listener. Written with wit, precision, and at times playfully subverting traditional tropes to make a very serious point about this difference, Postmodern Music, Postmodern Listening leads us to a strongly grounded intellectual basis for stylistic description and an intuitive sensibility of what postmodernism in music entails. Postmodern Music, Postmodern Listening is an examination of how musical postmodernism is not just a style or movement, but a fundamental shift in the relationship between composer and listener. The result is a multifaceted and provocative look at a critical turning point in music history, one whose implications we are only just beginning to understand. A timely essay collection on the development and influence of secular expressions of Buddhism in the West and beyond. How do secular values impact Buddhism in the modern world? What versions of Buddhism are being transmitted to the West? Is it possible to know whether an interpretation of the Buddha’s words is correct? In this new essay collection, opposing ideas that often define Buddhist communities—secular versus religious, modern versus traditional, Western versus Eastern—are unpacked and critically examined. These reflections by contemporary scholars and practitioners reveal the dynamic process of reinterpreting and reimagining Buddhism in secular contexts, from the mindfulness movement to Buddhist shrine displays in museums, to whether rebirth is an essential belief. This collection explores a wide range of modern understandings of Buddhism—whether it is considered a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle choice—and questions if secular Buddhism is purely a Western invention, offering a timely contribution to an ever-evolving discussion. Contributors include Bhikkhu Bodhi, Kate Crosby, Gil Fronsdal, Kathleen Gregory, Funie Hsu, Roger R. Jackson, Charles B. Jones, David L. McMahan, Richard K. Payne, Ron Purser, Sarah Shaw, Philippe Turenne, and Pamela D. Winfield. `I judge this book to be something of a triumph. It provides many valuable insights into how social psychologists work within different paradigms and with quite different assumptions.... Throughout, the writing is clear, central issues are constantly reexamined, and sight is never lost of the whole \"task\" of the book... it addresses central issues both adventurously and provocatively. Students who use it are lucky to have such a feast provided, and they are bound to find the material both challenging and stimulating... there is much more about self issues in this text than in any comparable social psychology text. And that, in itself, is a major achievement' Self & Society This accessible, broad-based and a
1,263 citations
Fraunhofer Society1, University of Manchester2, ETH Zurich3, Eindhoven University of Technology4, Erasmus University Rotterdam5, Chalmers University of Technology6, Lund University7, Vanderbilt University8, Aalto University9, University of Brighton10, University of Sussex11, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne12, Stockholm Environment Institute13, Université libre de Bruxelles14, Monash University15, Linköping University16, King's College London17, Cardiff University18
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide an extensive review and an updated research agenda for the field, classified into nine main themes: understanding transitions; power, agency and politics; governing transitions; civil society, culture and social movements; businesses and industries; transitions in practice and everyday life; geography of transitions; ethical aspects; and methodologies.
Abstract: Research on sustainability transitions has expanded rapidly in the last ten years, diversified in terms of topics and geographical applications, and deepened with respect to theories and methods. This article provides an extensive review and an updated research agenda for the field, classified into nine main themes: understanding transitions; power, agency and politics; governing transitions; civil society, culture and social movements; businesses and industries; transitions in practice and everyday life; geography of transitions; ethical aspects; and methodologies. The review shows that the scope of sustainability transitions research has broadened and connections to established disciplines have grown stronger. At the same time, we see that the grand challenges related to sustainability remain unsolved, calling for continued efforts and an acceleration of ongoing transitions. Transition studies can play a key role in this regard by creating new perspectives, approaches and understanding and helping to move society in the direction of sustainability.
1,099 citations
Cites background from "Consumption and Theories of Practic..."
...Building on Giddens, Bourdieu, Schatzki and others, early practice theory studies on sustainable consumption emerged as offshoots from ecological modernization theory (Spaargaren, 2003), the sociology of consumption (Warde, 2005) and science and technology studies (Shove, 2003)....
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TL;DR: This article applied the insights of social practice theory to the study of proenvironmental behavior change through an ethnographic case study (nine months of participant observation and 38 semi-semi-experiments).
Abstract: This article applies the insights of social practice theory to the study of proenvironmental behaviour change through an ethnographic case study (nine months of participant observation and 38 semi-...
863 citations
Cites background from "Consumption and Theories of Practic..."
...First, it reveals the shortcomings of analyses that focus only on single practices and neglect the connections, alliances and conflicts between practices (cf. Warde, 2005)....
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...First, it suggests a need to look beyond single practices and towards the relations within and between whole bundles of practice that co-exist in particular domains of everyday life (cf. Warde, 2005)....
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...…behavioural models outlined above, social practice theorists, from Giddens (1984) and Bourdieu (1977, 1990), to more recent work by Reckwitz (2002), Schatzki (1996, 2002), Shove (2010, and see Shove and Pantzar, 2005) and Warde (2005), have all sought a middle level between agency and structure....
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...What this analysis suggests, however, is that if practices are indeed (re)produced through their regular performance (cf. Shove and Pantzar, 2005; Warde, 2005), it is precisely these subtle shifts in the elements of practice and in how they are experienced by practitioners that will prove central…...
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...…this view, anti- or pro-environmental actions, and more or less sustainable patterns of consumption, are not seen as the result of individuals’ attitudes, values and beliefs constrained by various contextual ‘barriers’, but as embedded within and occurring as part of social practices (Warde, 2005)....
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References
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Book•
01 Jan 1979
TL;DR: In this article, a social critic of the judgement of taste is presented, and a "vulgar" critic of 'pure' criticiques is proposed to counter this critique.
Abstract: Preface to the English-Language Edition Introduction Part 1: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste 1. The Aristocracy of Culture Part 2: The Economy of Practices 2. The Social Space and its Transformations 3. The Habitus and the Space of Life-Styles 4. The Dynamics of Fields Part 3: Class Tastes and Life-Styles 5. The Sense of Distinction 6. Cultural Good Will 7. The Choice of the Necessary 8. Culture and Politics Conclusion: Classes and Classifications Postscript: Towards a 'Vulgar' Critique of 'Pure' Critiques Appendices Notes Credits Index
23,806 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the self: ontological security and existential anxiety are discussed, as well as the trajectory of the self, risk, and security in high modernity, and the emergence of life politics.
Abstract: Acknowledgements Introduction 1. The contours of high modernity 2. The self: ontological security and existential anxiety 3. The trajectory of the self 4. Fate, risk, and security 5. The sequestration of experience 6. Tribulations of the self 7. The emergence of life politics Notes Glossary of concepts Index.
12,710 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: In the context of a post-traditional order, the self becomes a reflexive project as mentioned in this paper, which is not a term which has much applicability to traditional cultures, because it implies choice within plurality of possible options, and is 'adopted' rather than 'handed down'.
Abstract: The reflexivity of modernity extends into core of the self. Put in another way, in the context of a post-traditional order, the self becomes a reflexive project. One concerns the primacy of lifestyle — and its inevitability for the individual agent. Lifestyle is not a term which has much applicability to traditional cultures, because it implies choice within plurality of possible options, and is 'adopted' rather than 'handed down'. Lifestyle choices and life planning are not just 'in', or constituent of, the day-to-day life of social agents, but form institutional settings which help to shape their actions. Of course, for all individuals and groups, life chances condition lifestyle choices. Life planning is a specific example of a more general phenomenon that author shall discuss in some detail in subsequent chapter as the 'colonisation of the future'. In the reflexive project of the self, the narrative of self-identity is inherently fragile. Moreover, the pure relationship contains internal tensions and even contradictions.
12,430 citations
"Consumption and Theories of Practic..." refers background in this paper
...…of the abstract theories which say that the consumer has no choice but to choose and will be judged in terms of the symbolic adequacy of that choice (e.g. Bauman, 1988; Giddens, 1991), have very often operated with models of highly autonomous individuals preoccupied with symbolic communication....
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Book•
01 Jan 1980
TL;DR: In this article, the Imaginary Anthropology of Subjectivism is described as an "imaginary anthropology of subjectivism" and the social uses of kinship are discussed. And the work of time is discussed.
Abstract: Preface. Part I: Critique of Theoretical Reason. Foreword. 1. Objectifying Objectification. 2. The Imaginary Anthropology of Subjectivism. 3. Structures, Habitus, Practices. 4. Belief and the Body. 5. The Logic of Practice. 6. The Work of Time. 7. Symbolic Capital. 8. Modes of Domination. 9. The Objectivity of the Subjective. Part II: Practical Logics. 1. Land and Matrimonial Strategies. 2. The social uses of kinship. 3. Irresistible Analogy. Appendix. Bibliography. Index.
10,416 citations